How to make new friends?

Good friends are often hard to find these days. Meeting new people and making new friends seems like an overwhelming task. But witha little effort and stepping out of your comfort zone, you can easily make new friends.

Make yourself available:

Be out there somewhere, where you can meet new people to make new friends.  If you go nowhere and sit alone you are not likely to make new friends. Remember, friends seldom come knocking on your door while you sit at home playing on your laptop.

Talk to people:

You need to stop being picky in order to make new friends and should rather be more accepting. Whenever you talk to someone you have a chance to make a friend. More conversation goes on you are more likely to make new friends. You can talk to anybody, the person sitting next to you while traveling in the bus, or the person besides you in the lunch at your workplace, school or college.

Make eye contact and smile:

When you start a conversation, don’t forget to make an eye contact and keep smiling while you talk. If you have unfriendly facial expression, you’ll be less likely to make new friends. Look people directly in the eyes when you are speaking to them (or they are speaking to you) and don’t forget to offer them a friendly smile. Don’t ever look bored and sit with a folded arms, such gesture will make you look disinterested.

 Maintain balanced talking and listening ratio:

Balancing talking and listening ratio can change according to situation to situation as needed. Make a habit of less talking and listening more. People enjoy talking about themselves. So, listening more than you talk will make you seem like an interested as well as desirable friend.

Initiate get together:

Open up the opportunity for another conversation or meeting. This is especially important if you meet someone who you think you won’t get to meet them again. Suggest them to go out for a movie, football game, or to a bar as a group with both of your mutual friends.

Choose your friend wisely:

You have to be very careful while you choose your friends. Cherish friends that influence your life positively as well as have positive impact in their own. Avoid such friendship that have negative and unhealthy impact in your life, such as if a person id trying to control you, and bringing threats to your life. If this is the kind of case than ease your way out of the friendship as fast as possible.